


Missing the point

by kellsbells



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-05 01:39:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11567640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kellsbells/pseuds/kellsbells
Summary: Kara has just been fired after publishing her article on her blog. She's lost and lonely, and then someone unexpected comes back to town.





	Missing the point

* * *

Kara had known it was coming. When she saw the way people were looking at her, when she heard the whispers. She was being fired. And hell, she deserved it. She had done something monumentally stupid, albeit for noble reasons. She wasn’t concerned by Snapper’s words of disappointment. He wasn’t the one she cared about. She could already see Cat’s face in her mind as she walked out carrying her measly box of belongings, all that remained of 3 years of commitment, of giving everything she had to CatCo. She heaved a deep sigh as she turned over her credentials at the security office. She turned to look at the foyer one last time before she left, tears filling her eyes.

 

Alex picked her up, responding to her quick text and taking her home, filling her full of potstickers and pizza and hot tea until she was practically comatose. Mon-El came by, then, filling her apartment with his noisy presence and laughter and suddenly she couldn’t do it anymore. She was just smothered. She asked him to go, to give her some space. When he left she took a long, hot shower, letting the running water dull her senses and turn off some of the non-stop aural input she was subjected to at all times of the day and night. She did some meditation before passing out and falling into a dreamless sleep for 14 hours.

 

It was just as well she took the time to sleep. The following week was a nightmare, resulting in her breaking up with Mon-El, who turned out to be the fucking Prince of Daxam – the guy she’d heard about when she was a child and instantly hated. Not only that but he put her whole planet at risk for some ridiculous idea of star-crossed love between a Kryptonian and a Daxamite. Kara wasn’t about to be the last survivor of yet another planet, so she asked him politely to move along and get his butt back to Daxam to rebuild, if he was the hero he claimed to be. He reluctantly agreed, still giving a soliloquy about his deep love for Kara as his mother’s ship took off.

 

The relief she felt when the Daxamite fleet left their system almost made her drop to her knees.

 

“You okay, Kar?” Alex asked, stalwart as ever, holding her up and eyeing her with concern.

 

“Yeah. I guess this has all been a bit of a shock…” Kara said.

 

Alex drove her home and made sure her belly was filled full of Chinese food before she left her, making Kara promise to spend the following day in the roof garden sunbathing, or else Alex would drag her back to the DEO and its sunbeds.

 

She dozed off on the sofa watching the OA, and had some disturbing dreams before being woken by her phone. It was Lena, who’d been away for a week in China dealing with some new investors or something CEO-y like that. She apologised profusely for her part in Kara’s unemployment, but Kara wouldn’t accept her apology for something that wasn’t her fault. Lena offered to find her a job anywhere in L-Corp if she wanted it, up to and including her own executive assistant, since she was well aware how much Kara had done while working for Cat Grant. It was tempting – Kara even thought about working at L-Corp R&D, putting her scientific knowledge to work. She told Lena she would think about it, and went back to sleep, letting the OA and their sacred movements lull her into another uneasy night of sleep.

 

When she woke the next morning, she was greeted by Alex’s concerned face.

 

“Kara, did you sleep on the couch? Why would you do that? Are you… are you not okay, about everything with Mon-El?” Alex asked, sitting down on the coffee table and searching Kara’s face carefully.

 

“I’m fine with Mon-El going, Alex. I can’t believe how much I let him lie to me. How much I let him gaslight me into thinking I was wrong, when he was lying the whole time about everything. He belongs on Daxam, not here,” Kara said.

 

“Okay,” Alex said, stroking Kara’s hair gently. “Look, I’m sorry to have to do this, but it turns out the President wants to meet you and give you a medal for helping to get the Daxamites to leave. According to J’onn, they were going to call in the Dominators if Mon-El didn’t go with them. They would have destroyed the earth to get him,” Alex said.

 

“He’s not worth the death of another planet,” Kara said, somewhat morosely.

 

“You sure you’re okay, Kar?” Alex asked, and the tenderness in her voice made Kara’s heart clench painfully.

 

“I’m always better when you’re here,” she said, honestly, and Alex gave her a tight hug, so tight that she could almost feel it.

 

“I love you,” she said, and Alex said it back, and suddenly things were better.

 

She dressed in her supersuit, making a note to ask Winn about the new suit she had asked him to design, this time without a skirt. She was so sick of the surreptitious looks at her legs from people of both sexes. It was really about time she looked more like a warrior and less like a fantasy of a schoolgirl. She curled her hair carefully and then flew herself and Alex to the DEO where Alex changed into her dress uniform, a dark blue, mostly nondescript formal uniform with white gloves and a hat and shiny boots that Maggie teased Alex about endlessly. But Maggie was also there, in her shiny boots and white gloves, and Kara just grinned when she saw the two of them snarking about the indignities they had to suffer as DEO and NCPD employees.

 

The President entered the DEO with the usual fanfare, surrounded by bodyguards and trailed by important people. Kara didn’t pay much attention to any of them, as she was just here to accept her apparently obligatory medal (J’onn had been displeased to say the least when she asked if she could just go home instead) and then head home to eat as many potstickers and noodles as she could.

 

The ceremony was mercifully brief, and Kara went up on the small stage the DEO had hastily erected in the mess hall to take the medal and pose with a smile next to President Marsdin. She thought, for a moment, that she could smell a familiar perfume, but put it down to being overtired and overstressed. When President Marsdin sought her out afterwards to thank her again (a little too effusively, Kara thought distantly) Kara chatted to the woman and smiled, counting the minutes until she could leave. And then she was enveloped, suddenly, in that perfume. Cat Grant’s perfume.

 

“Supergirl. How nice to see you.”

 

Cat’s voice was low and drawling, the way she spoke when she was at her most dangerous. She emerged from behind the President and trailed a finger down Kara’s arm. She looked amazing, well-rested, tanned, happy. It made Kara furious, and she had to bite down on the inside of her lip to calm herself.

 

“Miss Grant. Back from your travels, I see?” Kara said, smiling faintly. President Marsdin looked from her to Cat doubtfully, quickly excusing herself with another thank you, and Kara was both grateful for the chance to talk to Cat and terrified for the same reason.

 

“You look well, Supergirl,” Cat drawled.

 

“As do you, Miss Grant. As always. What brings you here, to the DEO?” Kara asked, trying to stay polite and courteous.

 

“I have been working with the President on some of her new policies concerning the alien population,” Cat said, her eyes sharp. She had a small smirk on her face and it was making Kara’s blood boil.

 

“I see. That sounds really interesting, Miss Grant. How is Carter doing?” Kara asked politely.

 

“He’s well, thank you. He’s still in National City; he stays with his dad and comes to visit me on the weekend,” Cat said.

 

“That’s great, Miss Grant. It was so nice to catch up. Would you excuse me? I can hear sirens…” Kara said, nodding and then walking through the crowd purposefully and taking off as soon as she reasonably could, suddenly needing to get as far away from the DEO and Cat Grant as she possibly could.

 

“Um, Kar, there are no alerts here,” Alex’s voice came over the comm device in Kara’s ear.

 

“Yeah, I know, Alex. I just needed to get away. Sorry to leave you,” Kara said apologetically.

 

“No problem. I get it. I’ll come by and check on you later, okay?” Alex said, her voice low and soothing.

 

“Sure,” Kara said, before hanging up and flying to her building at around twice her normal speed, trying to use up some of the excess adrenaline her body had produced on seeing Cat Grant.

 

It was three hours, 23 potstickers and 4 tubs of Pad Thai later that a knock came at the door. Kara was, unusually for her, drinking. She had a shot of the alien alcohol that Mon-El left, followed by another as soon as the first took effect because it made her feel immediately better, the knot in her chest loosening. So she was a little worse for wear. Okay. A lot worse for wear. Wait, was that a thing? She tried it out, the words sounding weird on her tongue. There was a noise at the door, and she swung her head around groggily to try to look through it, but her xray vision wasn’t cooperating.

 

“Come in, Alex. It’s open,” she yelled, slurring some of her words.

 

“Can I still come in if I’m not Alex?”

 

It was Cat’s voice. Kara turned her head so hard that she flipped off the sofa and onto the floor, suddenly confused as she looked at Cat Grant standing over her.

 

“Cat? Why are you on the ceiling?” Kara asked.

 

Cat sighed.

 

“It’s going to be a long night, isn’t it?” she said, half to herself. She left Kara on the floor and walked to the kitchen.

 

Kara stayed on the floor. It was strangely comfortable and she was tired. She let herself drift off to sleep and woke when she heard Alex knock on the door. She exchanged quiet words with Cat for a few minutes and then left.

 

“Traitor,” Kara muttered under her breath, not knowing exactly why. The world was awfully swirly.

 

“Kara? Could you drink this for me, please?” Cat asked. Kara stood up suddenly and nodded. She could do that. She could do what Cat asked – that used to be her job. Maybe she could have that job back?

 

She drank some horribly strong-tasting coffee that she dimly recognised as being a batch that Alex had cooked up for when Kara actually needed a caffeine boost.  It took a few minutes, but the caffeine scared away the alien alcohol and Kara found herself sober and facing Cat Grant who was obviously doing her best to look patient, but failing miserably.

 

“Cat,” Kara said, finally. “I’m sorry, I had no idea you were planning to come by, or I wouldn’t have been…” Kara trailed off uncertainly.

 

“Drinking alone on a weekday evening? Passing out alone on your couch?” Cat asked.

 

“Either,” Kara said, with some bite in the words as she suddenly felt completely sober. And angry. “Anyway. What can I do for you? I didn’t expect you.”

 

“Of course not. Why would you?” Cat murmured. Kara just looked at her until Cat spoke again.

 

“I came to talk to you. I understand from Snapper that you are no longer a CatCo employee,” Cat said.

 

Kara took a deep breath.

 

“No. I’m not. And while I will admit making a mistake with how I went about it, I won’t apologise for what I did. It potentially saved the lives of hundreds or even thousands of aliens who call this city their home,” Kara said, her eyes hard.

 

“You won’t apologise? What about for ruining the chance I gave you? You couldn’t think of any other way to get the word out, Kara? A little plane you could have used to pass the message on? I think most networks in town would have happily filmed a message from Supergirl, had she asked. A message like that would have had a much wider circulation than a simple _blog_ , Kara. But if you absolutely had to do it through a blog, why not have Supergirl do that, instead of Kara Danvers? Jesus, Kara! I didn’t teach you everything I knew for you to throw it all away like this! What were you thinking?” Cat was almost yelling by the end of her diatribe.

 

“What do you want me to say, Cat? You left. You left me, and now you come back and, what? You think I owe you something?” Kara asked, barely holding on to her temper.

 

“Yes, you owe me something. I gave you a job as a reporter, Kara, despite your lack of experience. I took a chance on you, and what you did was so monumentally stupid that I don’t even have words for it!”

 

Cat’s eyes were blazing.

 

“Well I’m sorry, Cat. Whatever you saw in me, clearly you were wrong. I… I really need to get some sleep. It was nice to see you. You can let yourself out,” Kara said, standing and then walking away to her bedroom, standing next to the bed, her fists clenched and her shoulders hunched.

 

To her astonishment and anger, Cat followed her to her bedroom, the only place in the city that was all hers. She had pictures on the wall that she’d painted of Krypton. She had pictures on the wall of her mother’s hologram and one that Alex had managed to get for her of Astra when she was in DEO holding. It was her private sanctuary and she turned around to face Cat with her rage written all over her face. Cat took an involuntary step back before regrouping.

 

“I gave you something, a real opportunity, and you destroyed it. So you don’t get to spout your millennial pain or your abandonment issues to me, Kara Danvers. Those are not my problem. What do you have to say for yourself?” Cat said, her face set.

 

 "How dare you!” Kara roared. Cat took another step back, then. “When you're the last living human, Cat Grant, when you’re the only one who knows what Jeopardy is, or Starbucks, or dry cleaning or yo-yos or Kardashians or Coca-Cola, when you are abandoned on a planet you don't understand by the last person who shares your biology if not your culture, _then_ you can talk to me about abandonment issues. Until then, don't you _dare_ leave me and then come back and tell me I did it all wrong!"

 

Kara put her hands over her eyes, turning away from Cat. She could feel her heat vision threatening, the veins around her eyes crackling with energy. She had never been this angry before except when she was fighting Red Tornado, or maybe that time with her mother’s AI. She took deep, gulping breaths to try and calm herself and, once she had, she took her hands away from her eyes and sat down on the bed. A few minutes later she felt Cat sit down next to her.

 

“I’m sorry, Kara. I know that your planet was destroyed, and I can’t imagine…”

 

“Exactly. You _can’t_ imagine, Miss Grant. And yet you come in here to tell me that I’ve wasted an opportunity that you gave me. Well, that’s nothing. Because my entire existence has been a waste,” Kara said, almost snarling, standing and pacing, keeping her eyes closed in case her heat vision activated again.

 

“I was sent here by my parents to raise Kal-El and keep him safe. I promised my mother that I would. And then my ship was knocked off course into the Phantom Zone where time doesn’t pass. Twenty-four years later, an entity called Brainiac 8 managed to get my pod moving again, dragging Fort Rozz with it. You’ll remember Fort Rozz, Ms Grant, because the people in it tried to take over National City with Myriad. So I arrived here on earth and the person who opened my pod was my cousin, Kal-El. All grown up and a hero already. He didn’t need me, and more to the point, he didn’t _want_ me. That’s how I ended up as a Danvers. I tried, Miss Grant, to hide myself. To be what they wanted; ordinary. And maybe if I was like Kal, maybe if I could only ever remember earth, maybe I could have been. But I’m really not. Not ordinary, and not human. I couldn’t stay and watch Alex’s plane crash, knowing I could save it, so I flew for the first time in almost ten years. And do you know what she did? She came to my apartment and told me I shouldn’t have saved it. That I should have stayed invisible.”

 

Miss Grant had gasped several times during Kara’s diatribe, the loudest being during the last sentence. Kara was pleased that someone else was shocked. She still wasn’t over that moment, when Alex had basically said that Kara should have let her die. Because how could she do that? She’d rather have spent another 24 years in the Phantom Zone. Still, she was majorly pissed.

 

“I failed at being normal, and I failed at being a reporter and now you’ve come here to tell me that I failed you too? Well guess what, Miss Grant? I already _know_. My parents should have saved someone else’s life with that pod, and maybe they would have done something useful with these powers,” Kara spat, accidentally opening her eyes and shooting out a blast of heat vision that set the curtains on fire. She sighed before going to pat out the fire with one hand, suddenly collapsing to the floor, wrapping her arms around her knees.

 

“You should probably go now, Miss Grant. I’m pretty tired,” Kara said quietly.

 

She heard Cat moving and she relaxed when she was sure that the other woman was going to go. Cat didn’t leave, however. She sat next to Kara on the floor of her bedroom, taking one of Kara’s hands in hers gently.

 

“Kara. I am so sorry. I was… I was coming back, and I was tired, and I got here and first of all I found the shambles that James Olsen left. And then I went to your office, thinking that you might know what had been happening, and you’re not there. So I went to speak to Snapper and… well. You know the rest. I understand why you did what you did, Kara. You were keeping the aliens of National City safe. I think there were probably better ways to do it, but we can talk about that another time, assuming you ever want to speak to me again.”

 

Cat touched Kara’s face gently.

 

“Open your eyes for me, Kara?” she asked, and it was a request, not a demand.

 

Kara shook her head.

 

“I can’t. I’ll hurt you,” she whispered.

 

“No you won’t. I believe in you, Kara.”

 

That simple declaration lifted Kara’s heart more than anything had for months. She opened her eyes, finding Cat looking at her contritely.  From about an inch away. Kara took in a sharp breath.

 

“See? No melted face. I knew I was right about you,” Cat said, and her silly smile made Kara giggle, just for a second, before shaking her head.

 

“So. I was apologising to you, Kara. I have to be honest. When I realised you’d been fired, I was so disappointed and upset and, yes, angry. But I think a large part of that was that I wanted to see you, and you weren’t there. I’m angry at that son of a bitch, Snapper, for firing you, even if he did have reason. And I am proud of you for standing up for the aliens of National City. _So_ proud.”

 

Cat ran her fingers through her hair nervously.

 

“In any case, I was out of line in saying those things to you, Kara. You are not a failure. You are an extraordinary woman, who, if my calculations are correct, is actually a little older than me, which is, by the way, _not_ okay. When you look like _that._ You did the right thing, even if you went about it the wrong way. And I had no right coming in here when I haven’t been around, telling you what you should and shouldn’t be doing. I am so sorry, Kara,” Cat finished, sincerely.

 

Kara looked at her for a long moment. She didn’t know whether she was angry, happy because Cat was finally here, or just exhausted.

 

“I can go, if you want?” Cat said, incorrectly reading Kara’s expression.

 

“No. Don’t go, Miss Grant. Please. I… I’ve really missed you,” Kara said.

 

“I missed you too, Kara. Much more than I ever thought I would,” Cat said.

 

Kara stood, offering her hand to pull Cat to her feet.

 

“Would you like a drink? A latte?” Kara asked, with a small smile.

 

“That would be wonderful,” Cat said, looking relieved.

 

“You really are tired, aren’t you,” Kara remarked, seeing the lines around Cat’s eyes. Lines of strain.

 

“Yes. I landed an hour before the ceremony and went straight to CatCo afterwards, and then I came straight here. Not quite the triumphant return I had planned,” Cat said, rubbing her temples gently.

 

Kara took a moment to concentrate on heating the milk for Cat’s latte to just the right temperature with her heat vision before writing “welcome home” on the top with some stencils and cocoa powder she had. It was a habit of hers for friends’ birthdays, to write on their coffees or cupcakes. It felt right to do this for Cat, no matter what had transpired between them.

 

“Thank you, Kara,” Cat said, smiling at the writing on the top of her drink before taking a long draught. “Oh, this is divine, Kara. No-one, in any country, has managed to get my coffee right, the way you do.”

 

“At least I have one thing I haven’t failed at,” Kara said, with an attempt at a light tone.

 

“Oh, do stop, Kara Danvers. You are a triumph. You just accepted a medal from the President, for the love of god. I might be a bitter old woman but even I can see that you are a beacon of hope. You may have had a setback, but setbacks are how we show the world our mettle. And I have no doubt – none at all – that the world will be seeing Kara Danvers’ mettle any day now. Once you get your head in the game again,” Cat said, with a smug smile. There was no bite in her tone, though. She drank some more of her latte and the sound she made when she did so was positively obscene. Kara suddenly remembered why she was so mad at Cat. She had missed her so badly and Cat had never even so much as returned any of her texts or emails. She wasn’t ready to admit why it made her so mad, but she felt her jaw tightening as she looked at Cat, Cat who looked so satisfied and happy here on Kara’s couch. After bursting in and making Kara feel guilty for failures that she might have been able to avoid, had Cat been here to give her some advice. She might never have made it through the first few months as Supergirl without Cat. She _needed_ Cat, and she’d told her that, but Cat still left. Cat didn’t reply to her messages or answer when she called. She felt her eyes fill with tears.

 

“What’s wrong, Kara?” Cat asked, looking confused.

 

“You… you just left, Cat. You left me to deal with it all, and Alex found Maggie, and James started this Guardian thing, and the only friend I have left is Lena Luthor, now. I mean, she’s amazing, Cat. But she’s not you. I needed you and you ignored me. Why did you treat me like that? Would it really have been so bad just to… just to say hi? Or tell me that I’m doing good, or even adequate? What did I do, Cat, that made you care so little about me?” Kara asked, her eyes streaming, now.

 

Cat stared at her, open-mouthed, as Kara let tears stream down her face. She was so tired of being alone, and Cat had always been the person she could go to when she couldn’t talk to anyone else. She didn’t want to think too much about why that was, but she needed to know why Cat had abandoned her so completely.

 

“It wasn’t you,” Cat whispered.

 

“What?” Kara asked, confused.

 

“It wasn’t you. You didn’t do a thing wrong, Kara. I just… I couldn’t be around you anymore and I thought that if I left then I could get it all out of my system, and I could come back and just be your mentor, you know?” Cat said.

 

“I don’t understand,” Kara said, going to sit next to Cat on the couch. “What do you mean? You couldn’t be around me?”

 

“I wanted… something I shouldn’t,” Cat said, still in a whisper.

 

Kara was still confused, but something was stirring in her, something that understood Cat’s tone, if not her words. Cat was staring at her hands, uncharacteristically shy. Kara reached out and lifted Cat’s chin.

 

“Look at me, Cat,” she breathed, and Cat did. The look in her eye was a mixture of fear and something else, the same something that was lurking in her tone. “What do you want? What do you want from me?”

 

Cat took in a convulsive breath, swallowing.

 

“I want… I want _everything_ , Kara. I want you. And I know I shouldn’t, and I know you’re probably horrified because I’m twice your age and this is why I left, Kara, because I didn’t want you to ever find out…”

 

Cat stopped talking, or rather Kara stopped Cat from talking. Her body reacted before her mind could really process everything that Cat said. She leaned forward and kissed Cat. Kissed _Cat Grant_ , without a thought in her head other than that she _wanted_ her _._ She wanted Cat, and she missed her so, so much, and she dimly realised that Cat was kissing her back and gasping into her mouth and then they were in bed, somehow, and Kara was looking up at Cat from between her legs, watching Cat fucking Grant have an orgasm, and it was the best feeling she could remember other than her first time flying.

 

Cat returned the favour, almost feverishly, and Kara came apart beneath her skilled fingers and tongue so many times that she lost count. She fell asleep, finally, exhausted, with Cat wrapped around her like a baby sloth. It felt wonderful, and Kara fell asleep with a smile on her face.

 

The next morning when she woke, Cat wasn’t there, and Kara was ready to be disappointed and upset until she realised she could smell coffee and bacon and pancakes. She followed her nose into the kitchen, not bothering to put any clothes on, and she found Cat in one of her shirts, the sleeves rolled up.

 

“How are you so hot, Cat Grant, just wearing a shirt and nothing else?” Kara asked, and Cat turned to look at her with a smug smile on her face.

 

“I’m hot no matter what I wear, Kara,” she said, and Kara was struck by how much things had changed in one night. She hoped this wasn’t going to be one of those things where Cat pretended it had never happened, or that it didn’t matter. Her worry must have shown on her face because Cat abandoned the bacon to walk over to her, taking her face in her hands.

 

“What’s wrong, Kara?” she asked, her eyes narrowing in concern.

 

“Nothing. I… I just don’t want you to take back what you said last night. I don’t think I could handle it if you did,” Kara said, her body beginning to shake a little at the thought.

 

“Hey, hey. No, Kara. That’s not going to happen. Last night was… maybe the best night of my life, and I really mean that. I will not be turning my back on that, or on you. The simple fact is that, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. I’m in love with you, Kara Danvers,” Cat said. Her eyes were clear and calm, and she spoke with confidence.

 

Kara stared at her, eyes wide, hand on her chest.

 

“You… you’re in love with me?”

 

“Yes,” Cat said, simply, no trace of the nerves that she was clearly feeling, if the banging of her heart was any indication.

 

“Thank Rao,” Kara said, super-speeding across the room to pull Cat into her arms and kiss her until she was breathless and almost giggling. Cat Grant, giggling.

 

A little later they were sitting next to one another on the couch, Cat drinking her coffee and Kara watching her carefully.

 

“You know, Kara, I thought I knew you, but I saw a whole different side to you yesterday,” Cat said, conversationally.

 

Kara drew back. She had yelled at Cat, had basically threatened to burn her to death with her heat vision. How could Cat ever want her now?

 

“Woah, wait a minute, Supergirl. I said that I saw a new side of you, not that I was afraid of it,” Cat said, putting her coffee on the coffee table and taking Kara’s hands in hers.

 

“You’re not?” Kara asked, wincing at how pathetic she sounded.

 

“I’m not,” Cat confirmed. “But you did surprise me. I had no idea you had that much pain inside of you. You hide it so well, with that Sunny Danvers smile and the fidgeting and the adorable obsession with sweet foods. But you really are an alien, aren’t you? Not like Superman. I mean, of course he is an alien, but only biologically. You’re the real deal. How old were you when Krypton died?” Cat asked, and Kara looked away, her eyes searching out the picture on the wall in her bedroom, of the view from her old bedroom at home in Argo City.

 

“I was 13 years old. My mom… she asked me to look after Kal-El, and of course I said I would. I said that I wouldn’t fail him, or my mother, and then the ship took off. The planet exploded maybe a minute or so later, and the shockwave hit my pod. I was stuck in this place called the Phantom Zone. Time doesn’t pass there. 24 years later the pod got free – I mean, there’s a lot more to it but I can explain another time – and I landed on earth, and Kal-El opened the pod and told me that I’d been lost for 24 years. He was an adult, and he was already a hero, and he didn’t need me,” Kara said.

 

“He gave you to the Danvers for adoption? Even though he could have taken you in?” Cat asked, looking outraged.

 

“He did. His dad had just died, and he had just fallen in love, and he wasn’t ready to be a parent,” Kara shrugged. She would never be truly over it – she had always looked up to Kal, since she saw the hero he’d become in her absence, but she had also never truly forgiven him for leaving her. Neither had Alex, who was the one who had actually ended up raising Kara, because Eliza fell apart when Jeremiah died.

 

“Did she have anything to do with his decision?” Cat asked, idly. Her tone was casual, but she looked about ready to murder someone.

 

“Who?” Kara asked.

 

“Lois,” Cat ground out.

 

“Why would she..?” Kara began, but Cat shook her head.

 

“Kara, do me a favour and don’t pretend that we both don’t know who Kal-El really is. I mean, he shows up in National City to visit you at the same time as Superman helps Supergirl with the Venture? Do I look like an idiot to you?” Cat asked, scathingly.

 

“Sorry,” Kara murmured. “And I don’t know, is the answer. He never really explained why he couldn’t look after me, just said that he had some friends who could help. And then he left me with them, and… that was that.”

 

“And then your foster father was killed? Or at least, as far as you knew at the time?”

 

Kara nodded.

 

“You really have had more than your fair share of loss, Kara,” Cat said, her eyes wide and compassionate.

 

“Hmm,” Kara hummed, non-committal.

 

“And so I waltzed in here yesterday to give you a hard time, and you were feeling abandoned and alone and I set you off, so if you’re thinking about blaming yourself for losing your temper, don’t,” Cat said. “Do you want to tell me more about what’s been happening this year?”

 

Kara nodded. Cat lifted an arm up in invitation and Kara snuggled in underneath it, while Cat ran her fingers through Kara’s long hair.

 

“I’ve just been feeling so alone, Cat. It was my earth birthday a few months ago – the anniversary of the day I landed – and Alex has always made such a big deal about it, about how important it us to celebrate me being here, about us being a part of one another’s lives. And this year, she has a girlfriend. And her girlfriend, Maggie, she had tickets to this concert, and…”

 

Kara spilled her heart to Cat, letting Cat take all her concerns and worries and deal with them, and by the time she was done, she was exhausted, but at least 9 tonnes lighter. This was how it had always been with them; Cat would listen and offer a few words of advice or a jibe about how Kara needed to put on her big girl pants or stop being such an entitled millenial if she thought Kara was being self-absorbed or not dealing with something properly. And Kara would be able to relax, then, because Cat was her sounding board, her safe harbour, and Cat always knew what to do.

 

Kara fell asleep shortly after, the feeling of Cat’s nails against her scalp lulling her to sleep. It was the most peaceful sleep she’d had for months.

 

“Hey, sleepy,” Cat said, when Kara came around a little while later. Kara looked up to see Cat working on her laptop, which she had perched uncomfortably on the arm of the couch.

 

“Hey,” Kara said, the events of the last 24 hours coming back to her. “Why didn’t you move me? That cannot be comfortable,” Kara murmured, looking up at Cat adoringly.

 

“It isn’t,” Cat said. “But you were sleeping so peacefully, and I got the impression that it’s been a while.”

 

“You’re right,” Kara said. “It’s been a while since I slept like this. You make me feel safe, Cat.”

 

Cat’s answering smile was so sweet that Kara’s eyes filled with tears.

 

“I never thought you would want this,” Cat admitted, her voice small. “I don’t know how you can. I’m twice your age, my son is your age, and you will probably outlive me for centuries. Maybe we should quit while we’re ahead?” Cat murmured, stroking Kara’s hair again.

 

“I don’t care about that, Cat. There are no guarantees in life. I could die tomorrow. My whole planet died on me. I didn’t see that coming. You could live ten years, or twenty years, or five minutes. I just know that I have been missing something in my life, Cat, and it took until yesterday for me to realise that what I was missing was you. Since I met you, you’ve been the single greatest influence on my life other than Alex, and I don’t know any other way to tell you how important you are to me. Because Alex is… regardless of what’s happened this year, she’s still the first and only reason I ever felt at home on this planet. And you – since I met you, Cat, even when you were scaring the daylights out of me or giving me a pep talk, you’ve helped me feel a little more like I belonged here. So if it’s five minutes or twenty years, I want this with you,” Kara finished, smiling up at Cat luminously.

 

“If that’s what you want, Kara, who am I to deny you?” Cat asked, smiling, before leaning down to kiss Kara thoroughly.

 

It might not have started in the best way, Kara thought later, but it had certainly ended up taking them to an unexpected and pretty perfect place. She might be unemployed and her friends might be deserting her, but perhaps some of that was due to her not knowing when to ask for help. As she looked down at Cat, who was sleeping just as peacefully as her namesake with her head on Kara’s shoulder, she felt nothing but happiness about how things had turned out. Her year had been pretty crappy, so far, but she had a feeling that now that she had Cat by her side, things were about to get a whole lot better.


End file.
